Acceleration 2020 is a big, bold plan, and ambitious plans take time to produce results. The 2015 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment scores are evidence that what dedicated staff across Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) are doing is working.

Our district managed to hold scores stable. There were some losses and some gains, but this is really where we expected to be less than a year into a new strategic plan. MPS is on the right track, and now we just need to stay the course.

In particular, our city should celebrate the successes of our high priority schools. We can be proud of the gains in reading at Anishinabe, Green Central, Lucy Laney, Nellie Stone Johnson, Sheridan, and Jenny Lind, as well as the gains in math at Anishinabe, Bethune, Green Central, Hall, Hmong International Academy, Nellie Stone Johnson, Sheridan, and Jenny Lind.

These improvements reflect the hard work being done by teachers, related service professionals, principals, intervention teams, support staff, and students in those schools. Our district can and will learn from their example. We will study those schools where we saw gains; understand how the teachers and principals achieved their success; and then share effective strategies across the district.

There is more work for MPS to do, and we look forward to continuing to join with the Minneapolis community to provide every student in our district with the opportunity to reach her or his fullest potential.